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Twelve years ago on 29 June 2005, PM Lee triumphantly went to India to sign the free trade agreement,the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement or CECA, with the Indian government. At the official dinner hosted by the Indian PM for him in New Delhi, PM Lee happily announced that a “New India” is emerging....

Cleverly hidden clauses

In the agreement, Chapter 9 provides for the movement of people between the 2 countries.
In particular, it provides very laxed rules for the so-called “intra-corporate transfer” of employees, encompassing some 127 different type of professionals described in Annex 9A: IT professionals, architects, civil engineers, electrical engineers, doctors, biochemists, pharmacists, lecturers, accountants, auditors, financial analysts, psychologists, career advisers, etc.
In Article 9.5, Clause 1, it talks about providing a “long-term temporary entry” to “intra-corporate transferees”. In fact the name itself should have raised a red flag to PM Lee. How can an entry be simultaneously “temporary” but yet “long-term”?

The clause stated that “each party shall grant temporary entry to an intra-corporate transferee of the other party, who otherwise meets its criteria for the grant of an immigration visa, for an initial period of up to two years or the period of the contract, whichever is less. The period of stay may be extended for period of up to three years at a timefor a total term not exceeding eight years”.

Bottom line is an “intra-corporate transferee” can stay up to 8 years before he is “rotated” out of the country.
And the person shall be exempted from any labour market testing or economic needs testing, as specified in Article 9.3:

“Neither Party shall require labour market testing, economic needs testing or other procedures of similar effects as a condition for temporary entry, in respect of natural persons upon whom the benefits ofthis Chapter are conferred.”

That is to say, economic needs testing like Singapore’s fair consideration framework which ensures fair hiring of Singaporeans cannotbe applied to “intra-corporate transferees”.

To top it all, CECA Article 9.6 even allows the “intra-corporate transferees” to bring in their spouses or dependents to work too:

“A Party shall, upon application, grant the accompanying spouses or dependents of the other Party the right to work as managers, executives or specialists, subject to its relevant licensing, administrative and registration requirements.”
In cases where their spouses or dependents are not professionals, they shall be allowed to work in other areas:
“Such spouses or dependents can apply independently in their own capacity (and not necessarily as accompanying spouses or dependents) andshall not be barred by the Party granting them the right to work from taking up employment in a category other than that of managers, executives, or specialists solely on the ground that they as the accompanying spouses or dependents are already employed in its territoryas managers, executives or specialists.”

India IT companies exploiting the “intra-corporate transfer” loophole

Hence with CECA, Indian IT companies like Wipro or Infosys can exploit the “intra-corporate transfer” loophole, to move large number ofIndian IT workers into Singapore since CECA does not set any quotas.

They do not have to hire a single Singaporean in their Singapore-based subsidiaries.

Before the PAP govt notices, tens of thousands of Indian IT workers have already quietly entered Singapore with many of them working and settling in the East side of Singapore, creating their own enclaves.
In recent months, driven by higher unemployment among Singaporean PMETs as well as discriminatory hiring complaints from Singaporean workers, the PAP govt started to slow down the approvals of Indian IT professionals to work here....

The above is part of an article posted in theindependent.sg on 4 May 2017 by a Voltaire.

The most dangerous and most unequal part of this Agreement is Chapter 9 on the Movement of people between the two countries. 127 professions were highlighted, now 128 with the recognition of Indian nursing degrees in the upgraded CECA in 2018. See Annex 9 below for the list. The free movement of people apparently looks so innocuous and fair on paper. But in practice and in reality it is something else.

Millions and millions of Indians would be moving into Singapore to work freely. On the other hand, NOT a single Singaporean would want to work in India. OK I might have exaggerated, maybe 1 or 2 Singaporeans would want to work in India and be paid in rupees. What, for earning rupees and in jobs that paid 10% of what it would be paying in Singapore?

Look at the picture above of the Indian masses in Singapore's Chennai Business Park in Changi, oops I mean Changi Business Park. It is the same in MBFC aka Mumbai Financial Centre in Marina Bay.

From the pictures you will know how serious CECA has turned jobs in Singapore into jobs for Indians from India, not for our PMETs. Who are the big employers of Indian nationals? GLCs? Are GLCs giving good jobs to Indian nationals and sacking Singaporeans in the process, causing undue financial hardship to Singaporean and their families?

A picture tells a thousand words.

When Tan Chuan-Jin was still Manpower Minister, he said this in parliament: (He is no longer a minister)

“We have also heard of situations where Singaporeans were retrenched or made to resign in the name of down-sizing, only to realise later that their positions were given to foreigners, who were coincidentally from the same countries as the business heads.”

“Let me be quite blunt. Would thesepractices not sound discriminatory? Would any respectable progressive company endorse these practices? If this hiring is indeed because they care only about choosing familiar candidates and not about hiring the ‘best man for the job’, then such practices have no place in Singapore’sworkplaces. Discrimination will not and cannot be tolerated.”

Irresponsible retrenchment of Singaporeans, especially the seniors and PMETs, has reached a crisis proportion. It is a very serious affair for senior Singaporeans to be retrenched, dismissed or sacked under false excuses when finding another job at their age is almost impossible. The end result is financial difficulties and family hardship when there is no income and the paltry payout from CPF is unable to sustain a normal way of life in this most expensive city in the world.

Added to this is the irresponsible hiring of Indian nationals to replace the Singaporeans that were irresponsibly retrenched. Many Singaporean and non Singaporean CEOs have been adopting this foul practice to fire Singaporeans and replaced them with more Indian nationals. I am not mincing my words.

The pervasive presence of Indian nationals in the ‘Chennai’ Business Park in Changi and ‘Mumbai’ Financial Centre in Marina Bay is a stark reminder of the pathetic state of affair affecting seniors and PMEs in Singapore. This reminds me of what an ex MP said about the blackout in Little India. Wonder what he would say if he visits the above two places and some corners of East Coast Park.

Let me first deal with the 62 year retirement age issue. Some Singaporeans are still thinking that 62 is the retirement age in Singapore. No, 62 is the minimum retirement age, something like the minimum sums in CPF savings, ie it is only a minimum and can be raised and raised. Here is a statement from MOM.

‘In accordance with the Retirement and Re-employment Act (RRA), the minimum retirement age is 62 years. Your company cannot ask you to retire before that age.

You have this protection if you:

Are a Singapore citizen or Singapore permanent resident.

Joined your employer before you turned 55.

Employees who turn 62 can continue to be employed in the organisation if they meet the eligibility criteria of re-employment.

Employers must offer re-employment to eligible employees who turn 62, up to age 67, to continue their employment in the organisation. The re-employment age was raised from 65 to 67 on 1 July 2017 to help older workers who wish to continue working as long as you are willing and able.’

Yes, employer cannot ask an employee to retire because of his age and must offer the employee post retirement employment up to 67, as in 2017. This age limit has actually been removed in practice and can be above 70 or more. In de facto, there is no retirement age in Singapore today. Several politicians and govt appointees have worked way pass their 70s and still gainfully employed in govt services or GLCs.

To the many PMEs they may think this has nothing to do with them. The Employment Act protection is for the workers only. Not true. MOM has extended its services to PMETs who need assistance when they are

irresponsibly retrenched. The NTUC, the representative of workers, has also set up a unit called U PME Centre specifically to assist professionals, managers and executives that were irresponsibly retrenched.

The Govt and MOM did not go to sleep when this monumental problem is staring them straight in their faces. As each day passes, more and more seniors and PMEs are losing their jobs and unemployed and in financial difficulties. They need help desperately and the Govt and MOM and the NTUC cannot look the other way. They are Singaporeans whose jobs have been taken over by the presence of hundreds of thousands of foreigners, particularly Indian nationals.

PMEs that are wrongly or irresponsibly retrenched or lost their jobs can go to U PME centre or the MOM to seek assistance. If these failed, they can petition the Prime Minister for help, to intervene into their plight when their rice bowls are affected. Seniors and PMEs have families to feed and dependents to take care of. If not manage properly this could turn into a political crisis for the govt.

What if all else fails? Well, the GE is around the corner. The elected Govt is supposed to take care of the people especially in providing good jobsfor them, not handouts and pittance subsidies that could not last the next day.

Irresponsible CEOs causing Singaporeans to lose their jobs and to replace them with Indian nationals must be put on notice that they cannot get away with crimes against the seniors and PMEs. Such malpractices must be put to an end immediately.
PS. Heng Swee Kiat's budget speech spoke about more restrictions on S pass and dependent pass for foreigners to deal with this problem. Hope it is not just lip service._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

He is so cute, so famous and so clever. Now they are calling him a pathological liar. I disagree. I think he is a genius, at least in the land of the blind where the one eye jack shines. This half baked, unqualified, probably did not have any respectable qualifications, could easily cheat and con a nation of well educated first world daft administrators is a lesson to be discussed seriously, not just slamming him as a pathological liar and let the thing rest. Harvard should use this as a case study for stupidity in public administration.

I quote this from thenewpaper, ‘He used fake degrees to get teaching jobs in Singapore, cheated on blood tests to hide his HIV-positive status, and leaked the data of 14,200 people with HIV.’ And this did not include his employment as lecturers in the polytechnics and he did so well, was so highly regarded that he was allowed a clinic to practice child psychology or something like that. How could he conned so many people in the polytechnics is beyond words.

Wait a minute, this is a genius that Singapore is looking for, someone without any degrees and can do the job. If not because of his HIV status, I would highly recommend him to be employed as a lecturer in the university, maybe a professorship to teach how to con the daft and get away with it.

Singapore does not believe in degrees but in ability. Brochez is exactly the kind of talent Singapore is looking for, and a foreigner, and an angmoh to make him more likeable, and so cute looking to and could be the darling of many women here, if not because of his HIV and biased for the males.

Did Singapore learn anything from this episode? Is the govt still very happy with the 2m foreigners that were tagged as foreign talents here? No need to verify their certificates? How many are like this Brochez, with

fake degrees but very clever and can do the job?

Is Singapore becoming a paradise for fakes and cheats? If only 20 percent of those employed here are using fake degrees, how many are out there? The probability is that at least 50 percent are fakes.

So what now, conduct COI or do nothing? I bet they will do nothing because the exposure of this scam can be so very embarrassing. And to expose all the fakes hired in high positions could be so embarrassing. So they will pretend that nothing is happening and all is well, and bring in more ‘foreign talents’ and also tell the people no need degrees, can do the job ok oredy.

Below is a comment by Cheryl Gupta posted in TRE about this so lovely Brochez.

This is a city in decline, degenerating and spiraling down the tunnel into the third world of fakes and cheats. All cheats and fakes please come. You are better than the daft Singaporeans with good and expensive degrees from out world class universities. I see so many of them in Raffles Place and Marina Financial Centre.

To be fair, while Brochez is probably not a saint (he faked his bloodtest and lied about his educational qualifications), it is quite another thing to accuse him of stealing the data (which he did not have direct access to) and leaking the data into the internet (evidences?), while calling him a pathological liar so as to discredit him.
To be clear, I am not saying that Brochev did or did not leak the data. However, I would like to see concrete evidences that he had leakedthe data. I don’t think it is right that we conclude that Brochev leaked the data to be the Gospel Truth simply because our government said so. If we looked at the list at the beginning of this article, it is not altogether obvious that the government is always telling the truth.
At the end of the day, these events may merely be distractions to focus attention away from the incompetency and un-accountability of the government in failing to ensure proper security of medical records.

Cheryl Gupta_________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

'The equities trading business is critical to DBS and we have no plans to shut it down...exploring different models with a view to delivering a stronger customer proposition with minimal employee impact.' This is a quote from Business Times when DBS was asked about the rumour that it was closing down its equity business.

In the townhall meeting, DBS told the remisiers that they would not be doing equity business anymore and the Company would speak to everyone of them to try to fit them into another job in DBS according to their experience and qualifications subject to its policy on employing employees after retirement age and market practices.

The above two paragraphs when read superficially brought a little hope to the remisiers that all is not lost and maybe they could still be reemployed in some capacity in DBS. The devil is in the details, so they said and I would like to look into the statements and see how meaningful or how meaningless they are to the remisiers, told to look forward to a new journey. By the way, the person that crafted these clever replies would be highly sought after as a potential politician.

In the townhall meeting, DBS spokesman said DBS Vickers Securities would not be closed down. But all the remisiers will no longer be engaged in equity trading but redeployed into other areas if found suitable. The equity business would be taken over by the bank. This simply means that remisiers cannot trade in equities anymore despite their years of experience in this trade, ie made redundant. And the business they built over several decades would be taken over by DBS.

There will be minimal impact on employees, remisiers are not. Most of the employees, ie support staff in equity trading are likely to be absorbed by the banks to continue what they were doing. The remisiers would be like a clean sheet of paper, newbies, as their wealth of experience would no longer be relevant as they would not be doing what they were doing in the last 20 or 30 years. What do you think they can do in DBS when their only experience is equity trading? Would there be comparable jobs that pay them the same as what they were as remisiers when they have no relevant experience? What would be the likely jobs for them, customer guides in the banking hall, security guards, cleaners?

Another critical factor is age. Remember, retirement age is 62 in DBS though MOM specifically said that this is only the Minimum Retirement Age. Many of the remisiers are in the 60s, 70s and even 80s. How many would be found useful enough to be offered reemployment in DBS and if found suitable, likely to be on a one year contract, maybe renewable. Without this restructuring, the remisiers are looking to a lifelong employment in equity trading as long as they could churn up enough business to justify their existence. Very likely the majority of those above 62 would face unemployment, unsuitable and too old to be working. Those in the late 50s or early 60s could see a similar fate as 62 is around the corner.

In reality, this restructuring exercise would see many remisiers being jobless, not only the oldies but also those below 60s, if they could not find a job that fit their experience and qualifications unless they are willing to take anything that DBS is offering.

There will be minimal impact on employees of DBS Vickers Securities but maximum impact on the pool of remisiers. This is a retrenchment exercise in a different guise. Many of the remisiers will join the statistics of the unemployed PMETs. DBS could look very generous by offering a one year contract to a few remisiers to show how caring DBS is as an employer, but for how long and what kind of jobs and what kind of remuneration?

Let me summarise. DBS is telling the remisiers that they cannot practise their trade and all their clients and business would be taken over by the bank. Period. Many remisiers would be made jobless and a few could be offered jobs that are not comparable to what they were doing and not paying what they were getting as remisiers. They too would lose their jobs in a matter of time.

See the small prints or what is in between the lines? With the GE around the corner, this could be an issue for the opposition to kick around and DBS would be on the lips of everyone_________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

The pitch for DBS remisiers to join other broking houses has gone up another level. Red carpets, refreshment, wines and generous hospitality came with offers to bring every DBS remisiers into their folds are a great contrast to the way DBS so casually wanted to retrench all its remisiers, offering

those that they found suitable, with good job fits, subject to market practices on retirement age, jobs they have not done for the past 20 or 30 years. Remisiers being offered new jobs would likely be treated like fresh graduates entering the job market. DBS has circulated a list of job vacancies and many remisiers found themselves out of circulation due to the qualifications needed. Needless to say, the older remisiers would be out of contention because of age. Some of the offers by the broking houses are just too good to resist and made the remisiers feel so wanted.

The remisiers have been with DBS for a very long time and DBS is home. Many have grown very fond of DBS and would not want to move to another broking house. Many would want to be with DBS till they are no longer contributing positively to the DBS bottom line when they have to part company with DBS unwillingly.

The remisiers are asking for a meeting with Piyush Gupta to discuss whether this restructuring could be modified and the remisiers could still stay with the DBS family and continue with their trade. The objective of the meeting is to seek an amiable settlement with both sides looking good, comfortable and honourable, with little acrimony after the retrenchment exercise.

If this is not possible and does not fit into DBS’s plans for the future, maybe, in recognition of their long service and their contribution to DBS’s revenue in the past and present, and also for taking over their client base and the business developed over the years, DBS may think it is appropriate and fair to want to consider offering some kind of compensation to them.

The contribution of remisiers may be small today relative to DBS’s huge profits of billions every quarter, but still substantial. On the average, each remisier could have contributed at least a million or more to DBS revenue, easily more than $400m in total in the last 20 or 30 years. And this is all without taking a single cent from DBS as salary, no staff benefits, no annual leave, no staff insurance, welfare etc etc.

The client base and business conscientiously and tirelessly developed by the remisiers over the years cannot be worthless, unappreciated and NOT compensated. There is value in the client base and business. All the broking houses are eyeing DBS remisiers with great anticipation. Is it fair banking practice for DBS not to compensate the remisiers when taking over their client base and their business?

Would DBS live up to its reputation as a good employer, the best employer, a caring employer, and in all fairness, offer a compensation package to the remisiers due to this unilateral decision by the bank in the interest of the bank?

At the moment, other than the offer of trying to find employment for some younger remisiers, subject to job fit, DBS is not talking about any other form of compensation, just bye bye to the remisiers and wish them all the best in a new journey to nowhere. Some of the remisiers may have to call it a day. Some, if not able to find alternative employment or offers from other broking houses, may face joblessness, premature retirement, and even financial difficulties if they have families and children to look after.

The ball is now in the DBS’s court. Would DBS be so cold, heartless, mean and calculative to retrench all the remisiers that have contributed so much and for so many years to DBS with nothing but fresh air? Did DBS remember that during hard times, when they needed remisiers, they paid remisiers to join DBS? DBS even paid the big remisiers just to retain them and not to join other broking houses. Now that the stock trading business is not desirable by DBS, is it fair for DBS to wipe its hands clean and tell the remisiers to go under the excuse of restructuring?

On another note, this retrenchment exercise would contribute to the unemployment statistics of PMEs when it is totally unnecessary but because DBS has a new business model that it claims does not need remisiers.

Is DBS a good employer, caring employer, the best employer? Is DBS a fair and honourable business partner? These questions would be answered by how DBS treats the remisiers that are in the process of being retrenched.

Would there be an amicable settlement with DBS and with the remisiers parting company with good feelings for DBS and goodwill, and with DBS living up to its reputation as a great and responsible company, a good business partner and a good employer?

To be continued._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

A Singaporean genius in our midst
Brochez was just an unfortunate scapegoat among the millions that have come to our shore to test their intelligence against the daft Singaporeans and was caught. With every Brochez there are hundreds of thousands out there that are still happily employed by the daft to work here and be paid handsomely to do jobs they are not qualified to do. But never mind, in Singapore’s new culture encouraged by the top leaders, no need qualifications, can do the job would be good enough to be employed. Fakes, fake certificates, well, not really an issue as long as you are clever enough to fake it real good. Even if you are caught, they would find excuses to excuse you for cheating.
Singapore knows that this is the Achilles Heel but is willing to live with it. If not they would have taken serious measures to stop the big gap, like the gap between two outstretched legs. This is the new normal in Singapore, all foreigners that claimed themselves to be talented and can cheat, and lie and fake would be welcomed with open arms with good jobs to replace the daft Singaporeans aka PMETs. Cheating with fake certificates and credentials are par on course for foreigners here.
The geniuses, aka the cheats and fakes, used to be foreigners. Today we have a Singaporean, yes a Singaporean that had got away with engineering jobs in 38 firms with forged engineering certificates when his highest standard passed is PSLE. If this is not a genius, what else is? And think of all the daft armed with degrees from world best universities could be conned by a PSLE graduate cum laude, is something that Singapore can crow about and be proud of. Obviously this Singaporean genius passed with flying colours during the numerous interviews with our highly qualified engineers, proving that he was indeed a civil engineer with wide experience for the jobs. Oh, I nearly forget, he claimed to have a certificate for First Class Civil Engineering from NUS! I think it is this certificate, first class and from NUS that must have really impressed the interviewers.
Now that he is caught and charged, all he got was 2 years 11 months jail. What message would the 2 years 11 months be sending out? The heavy jai sentence may be because he is a Singaporean. This must be most encouraging news for the fakes and cheats of the world to come here to try their luck to outwit the daft Singaporeans. Cheating, faking certificates or forging certificates are not serious crimes. And the trade off for this little risk are free food and lodging and free medical care in the biggest landed property in Changi instead of good jobs that could pay $9,000 pm. This is what this genius Chin Ming Lik was paid by some of the 38 companies he worked in.
This guy is so brilliant, must respect him for impressing the daft and highly qualified graduates and employers. His name must be engraved in the Hall of Fame of the Cheats, Fakes and Liars. Going forward he should apply for engineering jobs but declared that he has no qualification but can do the job of civil engineers. And with his record of working in 38 companies, that would be enough proof that without an engineering degree he is just as good as any engineer. Get it?_________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Foreigners - How many more to bear before the problem goes out of control?
Referencing an editorial published in Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao on Feb 22, Mr Chee said that the number of S Pass and Work Permit holders in the services sector has increased by 34,000 in the last three years.

“The editorial hit the nail on the head by observing that if we do not control the total number of foreign workers, it will affect the employment outcomes of local workers and lead to socio-political problems in Singapore,” he said. “We have seen this happen in other countries.”

This, he said, was the key reason why the Government proceeded with the tightening.

“On balance, we decided that it was better to make a move now to moderate the overall number of foreign workers in Singapore before the problem gets out of hand,” he said. “As the Zaobao editorial said, the DRC tightening is necessary bitter medicine.”....

Also known as the Dependency Ratio Ceiling (DRC), the quota tables the maximum permitted ratio of foreign workers to the total workforce that a company can employ.

The DRC for that sector will be further cut – in two stages – from the current 40 per cent to 35 per cent by 2021.

The S Pass sub-DRC will be lowered from 15 per cent to 10 per cent eventually in 2021.

Above are quoted from Channel News Asia articles.

The above are measures that the govt is going to take. Does the govt know how easy it is to overcome these changes and restrictions? Would the govt also be tightening the approval of foreigners to become citizens? If not, then they simply apply to be citizens like they used to do over the last few decades and no one is wiser with all the foreigners now becoming part of the statistics as locals.

What about the DRC, does the govt know that many companies in Chennai Business Park in Changi employed almost 90 or 100% foreigners, mostly from India? Or the govt is still sleeping, never been to that part of Singapore or simply does not want to know? Turn to look away? The enclaves of Indian nationals in Singapore, in companies and in private housing estates are so stark that no one can miss them and nothing is being done to it? Would the few comments in Parliament make any difference or just end in Parliament once Parliament goes into recess?

Look at the numbers from MOM below. No one knows what is happening? Everyone on holiday, never read these reports for so many years? Or because their balls are stuck in the CECA and afraid of being sued by India?

'The latest foreign workforce numbers released by MOM last week, however, showed that the number of foreign PMETs in Singapore has continued to rise.

The latest figures show that even though the number of foreign PMETs on Employment Pass (EP) has decreased slightly in the last 2 years from 192,300 to 185,800, the total number of foreign PMETs (such as those on EP and S Pass) has been increasing.

In 2013, the total number of foreign PMETs was 336,000. This number rose to 349,000 in 2014, 366,500 in 2015, 372,000 in 2016, 372,100 in 2017 and finally, 381,300 last year.

In 2018, the number of foreign PMETs on EP decreased by 1,900 compared to 2017 but the number of S Pass holders shot up by 11,100 in 2018, reaching a new high of 195,500.' Posted in theindependent.sg

The total number for foreign PMETs has been going up and up, from 349,000 in 2014 to 381,300 in 2018. The most painful thing is that more and more Singaporeans PMETs are being retrenched. What does this say for the pro Singaporeans or pro foreigners policy? Singaporeans, you die your business, foreigners can come and take over your place and your jobs.

Who voted the govt to do this to Singaporeans?

There is no lack of good jobs for Singaporeans, counting the 381,300 jobs given to foreign PMETs and probably another 200,000 given to new citizens. There is no good reasons why Singaporeans PMETs should be retrenched, formed the bulk of retrenched workers and with many young Singaporeans partially employed ie on part time or short term contract jobs.

This is a very serious problem affecting ordinary Singaporeans, not the millionaire politicians._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Martin Gabriel, who runs HR consultancy and training firm HRmatters 21, shared on Facebook last weekend that a quarter of the 100+ applications his client received for a junior secretary job came from “applicants above 40 years of age and previously held senior positions making much much more than 3k.”
Mr Gabriel wrote: “I don’t usually discuss the confidential part of my work so openly, but I think it’s good to alert everyone, how bad the job market is. Recently my client advertised for ajunior secretary position for a salary of about 3k plus.

“What was astonishing was that, even senior Managers and Directors were applying for that position. Most of them, out of work for more than 6 months.

“More than a 100 applications were received for one position with about 25% of the applicants above 40 years of age and (sic) previously held senior positions making much much more than 3k. That’s is how bad the job market situation is in Singapore.”

In a comment, Mr Gabriel added: “I don’t want to call people out, but even here in FB, I have friends who are desperately looking for a job and had (sic) gone into depression. There is even one person who had to seek medical treatment for 2 years and was suicidal. Ifeel so sorry for this person.

“No mainstream media would dare interview me for such stories because I can easily come up with 5 to 6 stories that would drive people to tears. And these are real stories, not made up. I’m a hands on person. My course of work brings me up close to such people andunfortunate situations.”

The above paragraphs copied from theindependent.sg blog

My instant reaction is that this is fake news because with all the rosy reports in the main media that unemployment of PMETs is not serious and so many are getting employed, this type of news cannot be true. If it is, then PAP cannot be elected with so big majority election after election.

Also you don't really hear PMETs complaining about being jobless or unemployed, at least not in the main media that always tell the truth. The only time you hear such news is from the social media like theindependent.sg and Gilbert Goh's unemployment blog. And you all know that social media are always guaranteed to be unreliable and famed for posting fake news, mysingaporenews also included. So you be the judge if this is fake news or truth.

I personally know of a PhD applying to be a cleaner supervisor. This one I swear is true.

So, unemployment of PMETs real problem or fake news? Many senior remisiers are also going to be jobless soon, I know._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Not Asian, so no job? No proof UOB discriminated against London banker, but there was unfair dismissal
A former senior officer with the United Overseas Bank (UOB) who accused the bank of denying him a new job because he is not Asian has lost a racial discrimination claim at a London employment tribunal.
The above is reported in Today online. Can you believe this angmoh has the audacity to sue UOB for dismissal on the ground of him being non Asian? Did he believe that Singapore is still a British colony and angmoh tua kee, that he could walk around thinking he was 10 foot tall because he was an angmoh?
Asian companies, particularly Singapore companies, must take note of this risk of being spuriously sued by angmohs and foreigners for providing jobs when they could not find jobs in their home countries. Singapore companies do not owe these foreigners any duty or obligation to solve their unemployment problem and should not be unduly stressed by employing them and to be treated exceptionally because they are foreigners.
Why risk having such silly problems when they could hire Singaporeans and provide jobs for Singaporeans and take care of Singaporeans? Hope UOB and other Singaporean companies learn from this episode and avoid and reduce their employment of foreigners. Foreigners are not really tua kee. Most of them are rejects from their countries, could not find employment in their own countries, so have to run away to this corner of the world to look for jobs. There is no need to bend backwards to hire these wildlife.
The wildlife think they are special and Singaporeans are stupid, Singapore owes them a living. And they think they can come here to beat up daft Singaporeans as and when they like.
Who is creating this wildlife problem in Singapore? Who is putting the safety of Singaporeans at risk? The day when Singaporeans walk the streets in fear of wildlife would be the day Singaporeans lose their country._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Just have to repeat this sad story posted by DuGu QiuBai in the TRE. This is the new normal, the new state of affair affecting Singaporean PMETs, and no one is going to do anything about it as long as they collect their millions. And come election they will ask you to vote for them, for you and with you. How many Singaporean PMETs have suffered this fate and are jobless or ended up as security guards or cleaning supervisor or as taxi or Grab drivers? And the sillies could tell the ex PMETs that a security guard job or cleaner supervisor's job is a job and better than being jobless.

I do not have data to prove how real is this problem of discrimination against Singaporean PMETs in Singapore by foreigners employed here. I do not know how prevalent and pervasive is the problem. From observations and just looking around Raffles Place and MumBai Financial Centre, oops, I mean Marina Bay Financial Centre, you can see something is not right. You do not think you are in Singapore, you don't feel like you are in Singapore, you feel that Singaporeans are a minority in these areas.

The saddest thing is that daft Sinkies are accepting this sad state of affair as their fate and they could not do anything about it even when they cast their votes during election to protect themselves and their children's future. The daft Sinkies deserve it.

Recently,had a friend, ex PMET came back from State after hearing all the stories from our state media that Singapore is booming and needed local talents to return to help. But after his return, months turn into year, he already unemployed for more than 1 year.

He told me he went to many interviews and the hiring managers he met are mostly foreigners and almost all are from third world. And he checked out their linkedin profiles, all of them have inferior qualifications and unrecognised degrees. Some don’t even speak good English and yet they are management in Singapore. But he sees a trend, most have become new citizens. Against all odds, he still tried very hard and many occasions, he performed really well but he wasn’t selectedand days later, he found another foreigner hired. For example, a Pinoywill hire Pinoy and Indian hires Indian. In one classic case, the humanresource from UK company HQ was so impressed with him, they put him tothe local Pinoy GM in Singapore, he was not selected because Pinoy GM felt he was not good enough. A few days later, another Pinoy was hired.But the UK head hunter wrote a thesis to tell him to apply later for other position. This signals something to all Singaporeans reading, theheavy discrimination of locals have become very significant with our FT working population breaches 50%. Singaporeans may not hire Singaporeans but FTs will 100% hire their own skin.

So my friend decided to go WSG workshop, all he got was to re-write his CV. He told me the trainer can’t even write a better CV than him andhe had to pay to attend such lousy class. In addition, the WSG asked him to be a security guard! The reason WSG said was it is better to havefood on the table or to remain unemployed! And later, I heard from manyPMETs who went to WSG, they were advised the same, all asked to be security guards!

Singapore management jobs are reserved for FTs, Singaporean experienced PMETs are only capable to be security guards. A third world inferior qualification and degree can be management in Singapore, our local degrees can only be underemployed, unemployed or self employed.

Remember FTs are ruling the corporate now, they maybe inferior but they are management and supported by PAP and also they have become new citizens, no longer FTs on paper. If you been hit, it is almost impossible to land another job as these FTs continue to discriminate andgrowing in numbers. We are heading towards 10M, so another 4M of FTs toimport and convert to PRs and new citizens.

Last GE, 69.9% voted for such situation. My friend who came back fromUS is a very pro PAP supporter and today, he felt with disbelief that the main stream media is cooking up stories of vibrant economy and asking local talents to come back, its all fake! And he is now extremelydisappointed and felt betrayed.

The next GE if you vote for them again, just don't cry for Argentina, you voted for it!

DuGu QiuBai_________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

'It is such a crying shame if many of our PEI graduates eventually endup as another private car driver or “protection officers” who are really just security guards. These is a grim situation against a backdrop of thousands of foreigners who are holding Employment Passes and S-passes in Singapore
Singaporeans must pay dearly in different ways when they elect an incompetent government that is unable to create any more opportunities for its people. Our citizens must by now realised that there are heavy prices that they must pay for electing a useless PAP government who cannot fly any higher or any further anymore.'

The above comments were in an article posted by Simon Lim in TRE.

The Graduation Ceremony used to be the pride of parents and their children, the event to ended a regime of self sacrifices, regimentation and financial expenses and the beginning of hope of a better future.

Is this true today? How many of the graduates are walking into the adult's world armed with their degrees and diploma and hope of a good job and better future and to doing their parents proud?

How many would be wallowing in self pity, loss of confidence and in financial straits, unable to repay their loans or their parents for paying for their expensive tertiary education when funny graduates from cheap funny universities overseas are beating them to the valued jobs and leaving them jobless? Who is to be blamed for their plight, the highly disturbing CECA, or the people that signed the CECA or allowed it to happen to seal the fate of our young people?

What do you think? Do our young deserve this bleak future, when Graduation Day is the day they graduated to join the ranks of the unemployed? How pathetic can our young be? Who cares, who did they vote for to deserve this?_________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Raising the quality of doctors
SINGAPORE: Starting 2020, the list of overseas medical schools whose graduates can practise in Singapore will shrink from 160 to 103.

This comes after the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) reviewed the overseas medical schools with registrable basic medical qualifications, it said in a joint press release with the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (Apr 1.

The changes come as the need to recruit overseas-trained doctors abates, with total annual intakes from local medical schools rising from 300 in 2010 to about 500 in 2018....

Responding to CNA's queries, MOH and SMC said that in recent years, it registered about 120 doctors annually who had trained at the affected medical schools. Of those, about 30 were Singaporean or Permanent Residents.

In recent years Singapore had registered about 120 doctors from the delisted list of medical schools or about 1,200 for a 10 year period or 2,400 if over 20 years. The big question everyone will be asking would be the standard of medical practitioners from the delisted list and whether they have compromised the overall quality of medical services here. Hypothetically, if the approved list is equated to be the A list, the delisted list could be B or C list. So those from the B or C list that have gone through the gates would still be practising here due to our shortages of doctors.

Hopefully all is well and there is really nothing to worry about. Oh, would India sue the Singapore Govt because not all Indian doctors would be allowed to practise here?

Apparently from the above step taken by SMC and MOH, not all medical schools are the same or of the same standard or standard that are deemed acceptable to Singapore. Would this reasoning be the same for all other disciplines like engineering, science, law, finance, commerce etc etc? Or the difference in standards in these other disciplines would not be too deadly compare to medicine so never mind? Would slip shod engineering work, architectural work, civil engineering or even finance be deadly enough and result in loss of life as well?

In the past, Singaporeans seeking a university education overseas would be very careful to identify only the reputable ones or those recognised by the Govt. This may seem to be history and nowadays everything goes as long as it is printed on good quality papers, would be acceptable in our globalised city where wildlife are preferred than the locals, where funny degrees from funny universities are seen as better than our world class universities, where many of our graduates from our world class universities are answerable or have to report to superiors with funny degrees from funny universities.

Should the Govt think that it is high time that it also do a spring cleaning like the SMC and MOH to list and delist universities of dubious credentials? Or the problem will be so humongous, especially with so many private universities commercialising education and selling degrees of all kinds here and all over the world?

What do you think?_________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Pitiful cases such as a 48 year old man out of job for 1.5 years after being retrenched from his previous work in logistics. Outcompeted by foreign PMETs. He has 4 children to feed and now works odd jobs to make ends meet. Fearful, angry and afraid for his family’s future.

Surely we had enough of the policies that were the caused of this misery to our own citizens made so by a Government focused on their self-serving political interest piling up and locking our money for God knows what.

Assured him and others like him, that we must not give up and believein the collective power in our own hands and have the courage to use it. We can take back this country from the misguided elites.
Best quote for the night, “… if LKY in opposition now, i think he toocannot make it into parliament with all the mechanism to block the opposition now in place like GRC and others…”. Oh the irony of it all…..

*Facebook post by Damanhuri Bin Abas.

Should we say that he deserved it? Or should we say that he needs to go for retraining to become cleaners since his skills is not needed or he is not better than the wildlife that stole his lunch? Or should he go overseas to steal the lunches of wildlife in their home country?

Or should we say that cannot be helped, we have already signed the CECA, so cannot back out from it or this is the new normal, foreigners are welcomed here, or will be coming here, and we cannot shut the door in the face of the onslaught of the wildlife?

We are hapless, the world is changing and we must keep up with the time. Ohhhhh, why this is not happening in other countries? Why are other countries protecting jobs for their own citizens but we cannot do so?Why are all the wildlife coming just to this little island only and in great numbers, like paradise for them, but turning the island into a future hell for its citizens?

Is this our country or the country for wildlife?_________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

When jobs run out for generals
First they were first choice for ministers. Then there were offered jobs as top civil servants and CEOs. The latest offer is COO, a level or two below a CEO. What would happen when there is no more minister, top civil servant or CEO jobs for the busloads of generals retiring from the services for one reason or another? Would they become taxi drivers or more appropriately security guard chiefs, more related to their training and experience and still can wear decorated uniforms with medals hanging everywhere?

How many generals are being promoted every year and how many are being retired at the same time? Our SAF general making machine is very productive and producing generals non stop and in great numbers. But not only minister's jobs are limited, top civil servants and CEOs of GLCs are also limited, and so are COOs. There must come a time when there will be an oversupply, just like too many graduates looking for too little jobs and out of no choice they have to end up as taxi drivers or part timers.

When would a general be reemployed after leaving the service as a dept manager or a VP, sounds so much better, still sounds like a president if not of the vice upfront.

And as they said, all govt policies are double edged swords and will cut both ways, only when. The high pay for ministers, for top civil servants, for top GLCs, would eventually kill the system when they cannot find the money to pay for so many of them, or not enough to go round. The CPF, ever increasing property prices, specifically HDB flats, high medical cost, high influx of foreigners, would eventually take their tolls on this little island economy of paying millionaires and making millionaire employees.

You cannot keep kicking the can down the road. The end is nearer than you think._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.